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First direct evidence that later school day really does help teenagers

A LIE-IN on school days improves the quality of students’ sleep, leading to a boost in attendance and academic performance.

A US study has become the first to show this objectively, using activity monitors to gauge rest duration, rather than relying on students to recall snoozing habits.

Teenagers tend to prefer late nights and lie-ins due to body-clock shifts that occur during puberty. However, this preference doesn’t align with the early start times of most schools. To address this problem, middle and high schools in Seattle decided to delay their start from 7.50am to 8.45am from mid-2016.